Fresh probe into missing Mexican students case

Mexico City, Oct 9 (IANS) Mexican authorities have confirmed launch of a new probe into the disappearance of 43 students of a teacher training institute in Mexico, who have been missing since September 26, 2014, the media reported on Friday.

The Mexican Attorney General’s Office on Thursday said a team of eight specialists from five countries will conduct a fresh probe at the landfill site in Cocula where members of the Guerreros Unidos cartel allegedly burned the bodies of the students after murdering them, EFE news reported.

All 43, who went missing from Iguala municipality, in the state of Guerrero, were students at the Ayotzinapa teachers’ college.

“The case is not closed, investigations are continuing. I wish to inform you that we have opened new lines of investigation in which new material authors have been identified,” attorney general of Mexico, Arely Gomez, said.

Without revealing further of the investigation, Gomez confirmed her office is studying the hypothesis by the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts, commissioned by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).

In a report submitted last month, the experts said drugs hidden in one of the buses, carrying the students, could be a possible motive for the crime.

“We have on record the statement of the driver, his detailed statement, we have the bus secured,” said Gomez, adding an inspection would be carried out to verify if the vehicle was used for transporting drugs.

Meanwhile, the lawyer for the families of the students, Vidulfo Rosales, told EFE although “important,” the soldiers’ statements were not enough and the army’s alleged role in the incident needed to be investigated too.